Six minutes after the opening puck-drop Saturday night at CN Centre, Jansen Harkins had himself a two-goal game.
One in each team’s net.
The first one damaged his pride. The second got the Prince George Cougars out of a hole and by the time the shooting stopped, the Cats were celebrating a 4-2 win over the Victoria Royals in front of a crowd of 4,335.
One minute into the game, with goalie Ty Edmonds racing for the bench on a delayed penalty, Harkins took the puck into the Victoria zone and while thinking his defenceman was positioned along the boards, he fed a hard pass from the face-off circle into no-man’s land. The puck traveled the length of the ice right into the unguarded Cougars’ net.
As much as it seemed bad karma was descending upon the Cougars, they didn’t let that mess with their minds. They wiped the slate clean and put together one of their most dominant opening periods of the season. They scored the next three goals, outshot the Royals 20-5 and took control of the game.
Five minutes after Harkins left the ice looking for a place to hide after his own-goal, credited to Carter Folk, the last Royal to touch the puck, the Cougar veteran had a reason to smile again. Sam Ruopp took a cross-ice feed from Colby McAuley and his slapper sailed high and caught a piece of Harkins’ back before it got past Griffen Outhouse into the net to even the score.
“It was a big goal, especially after that first one I scored on myself,” said Harkins. "Just to be on the ice and be a part of it felt good, just to kind of get something back for the team. Our line played well the rest of the game and that helped me out too, we had tons of chances.”
The Cougars kept piling on the pressure and Tate Olson’s point blast on a power-play gave the Cats a 2-1 lead. It didn’t seem to matter what line the Cougars put over the boards, they generated quality chances and they counted at least eight before the game was 20 minutes old. The Cougars needed that kind of pushback after the Royals made them look sick in Friday’s 2-1 loss.
The hardworking McAuley picked up his second point 15:30 into the game with a quick shot from just outside the blue paint, banging in Kody McDonald’s pass from behind the goal line to put the Cougars ahead 3-1 and they never looked back.
“We played with energy, we played with passion, and compared to (Friday) night it looked like a completely different team,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. “With the adversity we dealt with early there with that puck going in our net, we still didn’t want to stop, we kept going to the ugly areas and I thought our d-men did a fantastic job of getting their shots through.
“Griffen Outhouse is an outstanding goalie and if he sees the puck he’s going to stop it so we felt we had to get traffic in front and that’s what we did.”
The win for the Cougars (28-11-2-0) restored the 10-point gap they held over the Royals (22-15-4-0) before the weekend set began. The Cougars are now just five points ahead of the second-place Kamloops Blazers and seven ahead of the Kelowna Rockets atop the B.C. Division standings.
The Royals, to their credit, did not quit, and the third period was by far their best. Tyler Soy, on a Victoria power play, cut the gap to 4-2. He took a short pass from Matthew Phillips in front and tapped it in. They upped their energy level late in the period and generated a couple of dangerous-looking opportunities around the Cougars’ net but Edmonds was equal to the task, picking up his 23rd win of the season while blocking 22 of 23 shots. The Cougars outshot the Royals 43-23.
“I thought they really focused on the areas they weren’t quite so good at (Friday) night and they really played a solid game. When teams play fast like that it’s really hard to counter and just overall they were a better team,” said 20-year-old Royals defenceman Ryan Gagnon, the Victoria captain, who brought with him his own cheering section from Quesnel.
“They really shut down the neutral zone and that really helped them. Griffen gave us a chance to win but we couldn’t solve their ’tender.”
Nikita Popugaev looked much more at ease in his new surroundings in his second game since arriving in Prince George early Friday morning in a trade from the Moose Jaw Warriors and was rewarded with his first goal as a Cougar to start the second period. The 18-year-old Russian giant jammed the net with a shot from close range and kept his feet moving and barged his way through to track down the rebound with nothing but net to shoot at. It was the 23rd goal of the season for Popugaev, who now has 53 points, tops among Cougars.
“The first game wasn’t really comfortable for me, it’s a different conference, but tonight we did well – we just played hard and tried to do things well and we did it great for three periods,” said Popugaev.
“I’m just trying to relax in the game. I’m not trying to think about scoring goals, I’m just playing for fun with these guys. It was a good trade. It’s a good opportunity for me this year. I want to win the Memorial Cup with this team. We just need to keep working hard and all will be good.”
Playing on a line with Harkins and Jesse Gabrielle, Popugaev showed he can move extremely well playing either wing and he’s difficult to knock off the puck. He shoots hard and gets the puck off his stick quickly, taking advantage of his six-foot-five, 202-pound frame.
“He’s big and he’s just calm with the puck – he’s pretty confident when he gets it all the time and that’s nice for me and Gabes because he’s not going to throw it away and he’ll try to find you, which is something really good to have in a linemate,” said Harkins.
The Cougars will be in Alberta for four road games this week and Popugaev is looking forward to the travel time to bond with his new teammates. The Cougars will be back to host the Warriors Jan. 20.
“It’s just going to be a matter of time before he learns our system and feels more comfortable,” said Matvichuk. “He’s an elite player in the league for a reason and game by game I think he’s going keep getting better and better.”
The Cougars had lost three straight to the Royals, dating back to the previous week when they dropped both games in Victoria. Each team finished the eight-game season series with four wins.
“Bouncing back from last night and the games after Christmas, it’s a good feeling,” said McAuley, the game’s first star. “The guys were ready tonight and they obviously showed it.
“If you look at last night, we didn’t do the system. No one was ready. We do the system tonight and look at the turnout – we win the game and dominate them. When we do the system right, good things happen.”
The Cougars play the Rebels Tuesday night, followed by a Wednesday visit in Medicine Hat with the Central Division-leading Tigers. They’ll also play Friday in Lethbridge and Saturday in Calgary.
LOOSE PUCKS: Josh Goyer left the rink Saturday as the owner of a 2016 Nissan Versa after he won a Cougars' draw, sponsored by Northland Nissan.
